Hero Team: Rainbow Storm
by Garelor
Summary: When All Might tells Izuku Midoriya that he should abandon his dream of being a hero, Midoriya takes Bakugo's earlier advice and jumps off the building. He miraculously survives, and while he is healing in the hospital, a certain villain decides to gift Midoriya a quirk. Now that Izuku finally has a quirk, he can finally go to U.A and learn what it means to be a hero.
1. Chapter 1 - Origin

Hero Team: Rainbow Storm

When All Might tells Izuku Midoriya that he should abandon his dream of being a hero, Midoriya takes Bakugo's earlier advice and jumps off the building. He miraculously survives, and while he is healing in the hospital, a certain villain decides to gift Midoriya a quirk. Now that Izuku finally has a quirk, he can finally go to U.A and learn what it means to be a hero. And he's going there with friends

Chapter 1: Origin

The pain that Midoriya Izuku felt by All Might's words was soon replaced by the physical pain of hitting the pavement below the building. He faintly heard the screams of the people who saw the fall, as well as one panicked citizen frantically calling for an ambulance. The pain distracted him as the ambulance arrived, being lifted onto the stretcher, and being carried into the vehicle. But it was as they were closing the door that Midoriya caught one last glimpse at the true form of the man who had just crushed his dreams.

It was the next day by the time that Izuku woke from unconsciousness, and it was to see his mother, Midoriya Inko, worrying over him with an intensity found only in a Midoriya. She told him about his injuries, some broken ribs, arms, and legs, as well as a fracture in his skull. She told him that they had to call in the pro hero Recovery Girl, as well as a small team of others with healing quirks to heal him, as his injuries were very extensive.

She had also told him of the event that happened with Kacchan, how he had been taken hostage by the same sludge villain that had attacked him before his encounter with All Might. Bakugou made it out safely, though the pro heroes did have plenty of difficulty taking the villain down.

Perhaps the most interesting piece of information was that All Might himself had visited his room earlier that day. His mother told him that his idol wished that he would get better soon, and had even revealed that he would be back tomorrow to visit again. Throughout the entire conversation, Izuku noticed that his mother was very obviously trying to avoid the fact that her son had jumped off the roof of a building.

He didn't bring it up. In fact, Izuku didn't speak at all, only listening to the things that his mother had to say. He had hardly spared her a glance, and mostly just gazed lifelessly in front of him. Inko made many attempts to try and drag him into conversation, but to no avail. Eventually, hours passed and Inko made her way back home, promising to come back the next day. Izuku bade no goodbye, and continued to stare into nothingness.

Izuku's first thought when his mother had left was that he hadn't jumped off a tall enough building, and that he might try his luck with the roof of the hospital. That idea was quickly thrown away. Izuku knew that he had no reason to live, but he had just seen and heard first hand how worried his mother was for him, and even if there was nothing Midoriya Inko could do or say to make him feel better, he didn't want to put her through that pain.

Perhaps jumping off the roof of that building, in front of his idol… _formal idol, _no less, was a rash and irresponsible decision, but Izuku knew he couldn't keep living if he kept getting denied his dream. Izuku knew that he should have accepted earlier that he'd never get to be a hero, should have been looking into other paths of life, but becoming a hero was the only thought that got him excited, the only way for him to be truly happy.

That evening, Izuku woke to the sounds of footsteps walking by his room. This in itself wasn't strange, as he was currently in a hospital, but the fact that they stopped at his room and started to open his door was what convinced him to not go back to sleep. A figure appeared in the doorway, and the young Midoriya turned his head to get a better look.

The figure had the body of a man, one who was tall and muscular. He wore a black suit with a white shirt and black tie, all of which gave of a sense of wealth and power. Though by far the most prominent feature about him was the strange black helmet looking thing that covered his head. There seemed to be tubes or pipes of some sort at the bottom of the helmet, and the design of the helmet itself looked like a scary skull. Everything about this man spoke power, and Izuku Midoriya quickly found himself in a state of fear.

"So you're the young boy who threw himself off the roof?" the man said, though he didn't sound like he wanted an answer from Midoriya, so Izuku gave none. "Yes, you could work. A smart, quirkless boy with aspirations such as yours could work very well in my favor."

Izuku registered that this man must have obtained information on him, otherwise he wouldn't have known that he was quirkless. Where he got that information, he didn't know, but a good assumption would be the hospital database, as it had to include in medical information what someone's quirk was, in case anything the doctors attempted would cause damage to the patient. Regardless, why this man needed information on him was a cause for concern.

The man walked closer to the bed that Izuku Midoriya resided in, causing the middle schooler to attempt to move away, only for him to grimace in pain as he shifted in his bed. The man arrived at the side of his bed, and Midoriya shut his eyes tightly, fearing that the man might cause harm to him. A minute passed, and yet Izuku felt nothing. Against his better judgement, he opened his eyes, and slowly turned to look at the man that would likely give him nightmares later.

"Tell me, Midoriya Izuku, what is it you desire most?" He asked, not getting a response from Izuku. "I told you to tell me Izuku, I expect you to answer." He said, sounding a bit more frustrated than earlier, but Izuku still gave no answer. "Speak, child!" The man shouted, right as he extended his right arm and grabbed Izuku's head with his hand. As Izuku felt the hand on his head, he felt something strange go through his body.

"I want to have a quirk, and become the number one hero in the world!" Midoriya screamed. He noticed that he said that involuntarily, but he had a hard time focusing on anything other than the feeling he had.

"And why do you want to become the number one hero?"

"So that I can properly help anyone in need!"

The strange man took his hand off Izuku's head after he said that, and then the feeling went away. He stared up at the man, not knowing what had come over him, until it clicked. He must have a quirk that forces people to tell the truth, even against their will. Izuku heard the man chuckle, and suspected that he had more to say.

"Exactly what I thought it would be, young man. I apologize for using that quirk on you, but I wanted to hear you say it yourself. I am now certain that you will be of use to me. In fact, I think you're exactly what I need to make all of my plans perfect." Izuku didn't know what to make of what the man was saying, but he saw that the man was bringing his hand back towards his head, and flinched.

The man stopped when Izuku did that. "Do not worry young man, I am not going to hurt you or make you say anything you don't want to. I am giving you a gift to accomplish your dream. I only ask that you use it to the best of your ability, and become the strongest hero you can. And never lose sight of you dream. The desire you have may be simple, but it is pure."

He grabbed Izuku's head for the second time, and for the second time that day, Izuku felt some strange feeling go through him. This one was different though, and this one stayed when the man took his hand away from his head. He felt different, he felt stronger, he felt as if he could soar through the air.

"I'll be seeing you again, Izuku Midoriya."

*****LINE BREAK*****

"How's the young man healing, is everything looking up for him?" Yagi Toshinori asked the doctor that had just left the very room that he wanted to help him. The past two days he had thought of nothing but the young boy who he had failed. Just a few words, and he had sent the boy off the roof. Izuku Midoriya, a boy who wanted nothing else than to be a hero, a boy who obviously looked up to him more than anyone else, a boy who was so much like him when he was his age, and he had convinced the boy that there was no more meaning to life.

"He's healing very quickly, though that has a lot to do with Recovery Girl. She came by again this morning to use her quirk on him a second time, so he should be out of here tomorrow. Of course, we're going to have to put him through a psychological evaluation to see if he needs to be monitored or not. We can't send him home if we think he's at risk for further suicidal behavior."

Toshinori nodded at the doctor, a very rare frown present on the face of his muscle form. A couple more words were exchanged between the two of them before the old man went off to go look at the scans and blood work that they had taken from Midoriya. All Might stood still for a couple seconds, calming himself and controlling his breathing and forcing himself to smile before he went to step into the room of Izuku Midoriya.

As soon as he opened the door, the two inhabitants in the room looked over to see who was entering. Midoriya Inko, whose name he had learned yesterday when he had come to visit Izuku yesterday, looked up in relief when he fully entered the threshold. However, Izuku looked at him and only seemed to get more sad, as well as looking like he was conflicted about something.

"Midoriya Inko, it is a pleasure to see you once again. I hope you are doing well." He said to her, getting a bigger smile out of her as he said it. All Might turned to look at Izuku again, his smile faltering as he did so. The injuries that were scattered around Izuku's body were his fault, and when he looked upon them he knew that he had to do something to fix it.

"Midoriya Izuku, it is my understanding that you should be out of the hospital tomorrow." He said, though not in his usual happy and joyful voice. He received only a small nod in return. Toshinori tool another deep breath.

"Mrs Midoriya, would you be so kind as to allow me a moment alone with your son? I promise you, he is in good hands with me."

Midoriya Inko was noticeably put down by this, but she bade a quiet goodbye to Izuku and told him that she'd be getting something to eat if she needed him. She left the room in hurry, and soon enough it was just Toshinori and Izuku in the room. All Might gave another heavy sigh, before he exploded from his muscle form to his true form. No point in staying in his muscle form when the boy already knew what he was really like.

Toshinori lead himself to the seat that was placed next to Midoriya's bed and sat himself down in it. Silence followed after that, neither Izuku or Toshinori knowing what to say in this situation. Toshinori looked like he was about to start speaking a number of times, but quickly stopped himself every time, thinking that whatever he was about to say was not good enough.

"I'm not going to tell people your secret." Izuku said suddenly, causing Toshinori to jump slightly with surprise. "I won't tell anyone that the symbol of peace is really a scrawny twig, or that he drove a teenage boy to jump off a building. If that's why you're here, then you can just go."

Midoriya Izuku was surprised with himself at what he had just said to the number one hero, having never said something so blunt or something so cold to anyone before, not even to Kacchan. Midoriya was an awkward and shy person, a large part of it stemming from the bullying and discrimination he received because of his quirklessness, and so he made an effort not to say things rudely. Doing so was a guaranteed way for him to be beat up.

"... No, that's not what I came here to say, though after the way that I acted towards you yesterday, I can understand why you'd come to that conclusion."

Yagi Toshinori was only more disappointed in himself when he had heard what Midoriya had to say to him. To think that he not only drove what had been by far the most enthusiastic fan of his that he had seen in quite a while to not only jump off of a rooftop, but to cause him to think of him in such a way made the number one hero want to use his muscle form to punch his true, pathetic, skinny form.

"I came here to apologize for the words I said to you. And to try and help you better understand that I truly meant you no harm by what I said. I got a chance to look into you a bit more, and I know for certain-"

"Just leave me alone!" Izuku yelled, surprising himself again, but not changing his suddenly angry expression, tears in his eyes as he looked towards the one person he used to look up to more than anyone in the world. "You've already made it clear what you think about about a _quirkless nobody _being able to become a pro hero, so why don't you just stop making me more miserable."

Toshinori was even more surprised about what Izuku had just said now than what he had said less than a minute ago. Just how much did he change this boys life with just a few simple sentences that he said because he was feeling down about his own situation? A couple minutes, and he had single handedly turned this boy from an enthusiastic, hopeful, and quirkless hero wannabe into a a depressed and non-trusting suicidal.

"Midoriya, while the gist of what I said still holds up, there is no reason that you can't be a person that is able to help those around you. There is always the option of the police-"

"You know," Izuku started, once again interrupting the skinny man that was the true form of All Might, "you're not the first pro hero to tell me that becoming a pro hero without a quirk is impossible. I've met quite a few of them at conventions, or while they were out doing hero business, and they all said the same things that you did.

"But what they said didn't matter. And it didn't matter what other heroes said, what my peers said, or even what my own mother said. I truly believed that what the number one hero, what my idol said, would not only be in favor of what I wanted to become, but that it was the only opinion that mattered.

"And part of that is still true. What you said is the only thing that truly mattered to me. And what you said is that for a _quirkless nobody _like me, that it would be stupid of me to attempt to become a hero. And what you said is the only thing that truly matters. So, I'll focus on careers that are better suited for me."

Yagi Toshinori didn't know what to say to that. He didn't know what to say at all in this situation. What was there to say when the reason that he was even here was because he had caused this boy to jump off of a building. What was there to say when he was the number one hero, and he was talking to a boy who had every right to hate heroes. From what he said, every other hero that Izuku had ever had the honor of meeting had told him exactly what Toshinori had told him just a few days ago.

"... I hope you don't mind, but I got the opportunity to look through your notebook. You've some great thoughts and observations in there. Certainly something that any hero agency would value." Toshinori didn't know what to think of what he was saying. To him, it sounded like he was just trying to take back what he had told Izuku on the rooftop. But he didn't know what else he could do.

"Thank you. But I don't have anything left to say, All Might. Please leave."

"Please, young boy, " All Might started, only now getting desperate to stay and fix what he had done, "What can I do to make this up to you? I swear on my life, I will everything in my power to-"

"I asked you to leave me alone!" Izuku yelled, feeling and sounding angrier than he had ever been in his life. And in his anger, Izuku unlocked the gift that would forever change his life.

The very air around him began blowing violently, and with a mere look at the number one hero, the air around Izuku flew towards him and blew him off his chair and towards the door. In his shock, All Might had shifted from his true form to his muscle form, which was fortunate for him, because the force of the air was so strong that the hero was sent crashing through the door and into the hallway, right past the mother of the young boy.

All Might was in complete shock, so much so that his ever famous smile wasn't present on his face. A quick glance towards Inko revealed that she had a very similar expression on her face, and a quick look behind him revealed that a few of the medical staff had seen the episode and had begun running towards Izuku's room.

All Might was aware that the boys mother was trying to figure out what had happened, and he was aware that a few doctors were asking him questions about this sudden development. But none of those things mattered right now. What was important was that Izuku Midoriya had gotten a quirk, out of nowhere. And All Might didn't like the feeling he had about that.

"Was it… All For One?"

*****LINE BREAK*****

Walking back into his bedroom after finally being allowed to leave the hospital was a different experience this time around than it usually was for Izuku. Usually, Izuku loved walking into his room. It meant that there was nothing he needed to worry about anymore. Bullies couldn't get to him in here, and when he was surrounded by his All Might merchandise, he felt like he truly could become a hero.

Now, all he wanted to do was tear down and rip up all his All Might posters, burn his All Might figurines, and throw away anything else that had to do with the number one Japanese hero. But frankly, he was to tired for that. Just before he had been let out of the hospital, after having had to stay there a day longer than planned because of his new quirk, the pro hero Recovery Girl had visited him once again to give him a small dose of her quirk to fix any lingering problems there might have been. And according to her, her quirk made people very, _very _tired.

But that brought Izuku back to what he had been thinking about constantly for the past day. His quirk. After 14 years, he finally had a quirk, and judging by what it had done to All Might, he knew that if he worked with it in the right way, it could be one to help him become a pro hero.

It wasn't his quirk, Izuku knew that. It had definitely belonged to the strange and terrifying man that had visited his room only a couple nights ago. But that didn't matter. What mattered was that he had one now, and there was nothing else that would be able to hold him back from becoming a hero.

As Izuku began taking down the All Might posters scattered around his room, calmly, he thought hard about everything that he needed to do. The U.A entrance exams were only ten months away, so he had ten months to train both his body and his quirk to a point where there could be no doubt that he could pass the exams. Along with simple strength and quirk training, it wouldn't hurt for him to learn at the very least basic fighting techniques. There were many villains, as well as many heroes, that failed in their missions because of a lack of ability outside of their quirks. The pro hero Eraserhead was a perfect example of how that could be taken advantage of.

The ideal situation for all of that to be accomplished would be to sign up for a gym that offered fighting lessons, and then work on developing his quirk in his own time. But that simply wasn't an option. Izuku and his mother weren't poor, but that did not mean that they had the money to spend on things that weren't essentials. They weren't short on money, but paying to go to a gym and be trained would cause undue stress for Inko Midoriya. Even with his mother working and his father still paying child support, it wasn't like they had cash to waste.

Izuku pushed that line of thought away. Instead, Izuku tried to focus more on what he could do to train. If he saved up, maybe even did a bit of odd work for a bit, he could afford some simple weightlifting equipment. That would take care of building up his body. But he would need to figure out how to fight, and he needed a secluded area where he could train his quirk.

"Dagobah Beach could work." Izuku muttered to himself. Nobody went there because the entire area was overrun with trash. It would definitely be a place where he could train his quirk without people getting in the way. The only thing left that he couldn't figure out would be how to train in fighting. He could try and figure out some moves on his own, but there wasn't a whole lot he could do without a teacher. But that would have to do for now.

It took around twenty minutes for Izuku to do it, but eventually, his room had been stripped of all his All Might merchandise. The room was extremely bare without all his decorations, but that could be resolved later if it got to be an issue. Right now, he had more important things to think about. He pulled out a notebook, a fresh one, and started to plan exactly what he would need to do to become a hero.

*****LINE BREAK*****

"Get out of my house, boy."

Yagi Toshinori flinched back at the seriousness, and utter disdain that Sorahiko's voice held in that moment, though he couldn't say that he was too surprised by it. After everything he had just told his mentor, he should have expected nothing less. But he needed to stay, to receive help and guidance for what was to come next.

"P-Please, Gran Torino, I need your help. What am I supposed to do now?" He asked the old man, desperate for an answer on how to fix his mistake. Desperate to be told how he could be a true hero again, desperate for any advice at all.

He didn't get what he had hoped for.

"I told you to get out of my house, Yagi!" Gran Torino yelled, before jumping towards the skinny blond, his quirk helping him reach speeds that Toshinori couldn't match in his current form, causing him to be met with a surprisingly strong fist to the face. "I don't want want such filth like you to even be near me!"

"But Gran Torino-" All Might started, before being cut off for a brief moment due to a punch to his gut, "There has to be a way for me to fix this! I'll do anything!"

"Is that what you were thinking when you convinced that boy to jump to his death?!" Sorahiko yelled out in reply, quickly tripping Yagi Toshinori before jumping a little ways away. "Is that truly what you think now?! Or is this just a way for you to feel better about yourself?! A way to keep people in the dark about how truly despicable the symbol of peace is!"

The worst part of that statement was that Toshinori couldn't say anything to refute that claim. He truly did want to fix what he had done, but was that even possible? And were the reasons why he was even making an attempt to do so truly the reasons of a hero, or were they just so that he could get rid of his guilt and shame?

"If All For One gave him a quirk, that means that he has a plan for him. I don't know what that plan could possibly be, but _I _will be the one to find a way fix this. And if you know what's good for you, Yagi, you'll stay away from him, you'll stay away from me, and you'll try not to disgrace Nana's legacy even further."

*****LINE BREAK*****

The next three months passed by in a blur for Izuku, which was hardly surprising considering the amount of work he had put onto his own shoulders. Everyday was filled with intense workouts, studying, and working out the fundamentals of his quirk, as well as trying to push the barriers of them. He was proud of the progress that he had made with his quirk, now named _Wind Control_, and Izuku was confident enough to say that he had a good grasp on the basics. Of course, he could do better.

One problem was that whatever he had accidentally done to All Might in the hospital was incredibly difficult to do. Using his _Wind Control _without moving himself took a lot more concentration and was usually much more difficult to control. To compensate, he used his actions to control the wind and air around him. That combined with the makeshift martial arts he had been studying, as well as a hint of the influence of Eraserhead's fighting style, and Midoriya Izuku felt that he had a fairly unique fighting style.

Of course, the actions that he could do to manipulate the winds weren't only limited to fighting movements. Izuku had been spending much of free time learning to use his _With Control _to be able to run and climb like those cool videos he saw online, something called parkour, as well as learning to run faster and jump farther and higher than what could happen without his quirk.

All of this was possible because not only because of his morning workouts, but because of the work that he was doing at Dagobah Beach, which had turned into a community service project for him. A day or so after Izuku had begun training there, he had met a friendly old man, Watanabe Kaito, who was unsurprisingly sick of looking at such a dirty beach. Every day, save for weekends, Izuku would drag the heaviest things he could over to the edges of the beach, then load it onto Watanabe-sans truck, who would then drive it to various dumpsters in the area.

It was something that Izuku hadn't initially considered when he thought of training in the solitude of Dagobah Beach, but every time Izuku saw the beach even a little bit cleaner, he felt a swelling of pride and joy build up in him. In Izuku's mind, this could very well be hero training. Not many heroes participated in community service anymore, but Izuku still considered this small restoration project he was working on to be very fulfilling.

School was incredibly different for Izuku, mainly because of his decision to transfer. Well, it was more of his mother's decision, but Izuku certainly didn't fight it. Midoriya Inko had never been fond of the school that had bullied her son so much, but after Izuku's attempt on his own life, she finally decided that enough was enough and sent him to a different school. It was further away, sure, and Izuku still didn't have any friends, but it was a much bigger improvement from his old school life. Though that was most likely due to that at his new school, Izuku wasn't known as the quirkless loser.

That was about to change though.

"Thanks for lending me your notes, Midoriya-san. These are going to help me so much on the next exam!"

"It's no problem, I hope you do well Sato-san."

Midoriya may have not had any friends at school, but there were quite a few people in his year that depended on him and his notes to do well in class. Sato-san was one of the most common visitors in need of his notes, and so he was the one that bade Izuku farewell as the young green haired boy left school and began making his way for a stop at home.

"Midoriya-san! Wait up!"

Izuku turned around to see not just one, but two of his classmates running up to him. The first was the boy who sat right to the left of Izuku, Kirishima Eijiro, who had sharp teeth and and black hair that fell just past his chin. Kirishima was nice enough to Izuku, as well as to everyone else he talked to, but he and Izuku hadn't really talked much outside of Kirishima needing help on a math or English problem. He was also one of the people that relied on Izuku's notes the most.

The second figure was much easier to recognise and notice of the two, Ashido Mina, who sat a few seats in front of Izuku. She was easily one of the more peculiar looking classmates Izuku had, though that was not to that Izuku found her unattractive in any way. She had pink skin and hair, with yellow horns sticking out of her hair, and eyes with a black sclera and yellow iris. She and Izuku had barely interacted at all, but she had always been nice to him, if a bit hyperactive.

"Kirishima-san, Ashido-san, is there something you need? If you need notes, I'm afraid I already gave them to Sato-san. B-But I can definitely write up some more if you need!"

Izuku felt pathetic at the laugh he received from that, but he couldn't truly think of any other reason the two best friends would be talking to him outside of school. It was Kirishima who gave him an answer, and not one he was expecting at all.

"It's not that Midoriya-san… This time." He said with a laugh. "Mina and I were hoping you'd hang out with us, maybe go to an arcade or something."

A simple request, but not one Midoriya Izuku had ever received before. Izuku hadn't had friends since he was four-years-old, and so he had never been invited to anything. He had never even been to an arcade before. Izuku would have been suspicious, given his previous history with bullies, but if there was one thing Izuku knew about Kirishima, it was that he hated bullies. It was an enticing offer, but…

"I-I'm really thankful for the offer, but I d-don't think I can."

"Awwww," Ashido started, looking visibly upset, which greatly confused Izuku, "Why can't you come Midori? It's not homework, we know you already finished it in class."

'_M-M-Midori!?'_

"N-No, it's not homework, A-Ashido-san. I just have s-some t-training today."

Both Ashido and Kirishima looked at Izuku blankly for a few moments, and Izuku couldn't tell what they were thinking. But soon they both grew huge, excited smiles on their face, looking as if they had just found some lost treasure.

"Training, are you serious?!" Kirishima exclaimed, causing the awkward and nervous boy to flinch back. "That' so awesome! Super manly! Who would have thought that the nerdy Midoriya would be training!"

"Super Cool! Midori is the best of us!"

"Ya gotta tell us, Midoriya-san, what do you do to train? Is it boxing, or super hard weightlifting? I bet it's something even manlier!"

"Please take us with you, Midori! Please!"

Midoriya Izuku was very shocked about this new development , as well as nervous. He honestly didn't know if they were joking with 'manliness' or not, but he guessed from their enthusiasm that they weren't. Still, a glance at his watch told him that he had to get going if he wanted to get as much training done as he did.

"W-Well, thanks for i-inviting me anyways, b-but I need to go. T-Thank you so much!" Izuku said, flustered enough that he gave a small bow at the end, confusing even himself. But with that, he turned around and began walking home, needing a quick change of clothes before he went to Dagobah Beach.

"Wait, Midori, can we come or not?"

Izuku hadn't moved more than a couple steps away from them before he heard Ashido ask that. He slowly turned around, to see two confused faces, perfectly matching his own face in confusion.

"Y-You weren't just messing with me? You r-really want to c-come train with me?" He asked the two of them, not even sure if this was really happening to him.

"Of course dude!" Kirishima exclaimed, again shocking Izuku with his enthusiasm and volume. "We gotta train with you! You're aiming for U.A, right?" Kirishima barely waited for a nod from Izuku before continuing. "And you're like, the smartest person in class! If you're doing some training, it's gotta be manly as hell!"

Izuku couldn't help but blush at that statement, never having ever considered anything he had done manly. But the passion that Kirishima showed for something like training with the class bookworm was enough to make Izuku jokingly think that he might be a tiny bit manly.

"Come on Midori, can we please please pleeease come?" Ashido asked again, clapping her hands together and tightly closing her eyes, an action that Kirishima copied. To be honest, Izuku didn't know how to deal with the two most hyperactive students in his class asking to train with him in such a way.

"Uh, w-well, I m-m-mean, i-if you really w-want t-to." He responded, flustered beyond all belief, only to grow even more flustered at the loud cheer the two of them gave once he had stuttered that.

It certainly would be a long day.

*****LINE BREAK*****

"This is so manly!"

Once the three of them had arrived at Dagobah Beach, and Midoriya and Watanabe had explained to Kirishima and Ashido what exactly they were doing, Kirishima couldn't help but exclaim at the top of his lungs just how manly the community service project was. He instantly hardened his body and ran towards the trash that would be loaded onto Watanabe's truck. Both Midoriya and Ashido gave a light laugh at their classmates antics, but followed him anyways, doing their best to get what they could to the truck.

"So Midori, you really do this everyday?" Ashido asked the freckled boy in a tried and strained voice as the three classmates worked together to pull a ridiculously large refrigerator towards Kaito.

"Yea, everyday, except for weekends." Izuku replied to the pink girl, too focused on the work to be nervous and start stuttering. "Watanabe-san and I work for around 2 hours, and after that, I use the beach as a training ground for my quirk."

"What even is your quirk, Midoriya-san?" Kirishima asked, getting a nod from Mina. "I don't mean to be rude, but I don't think I've ever heard you say what it is, or even show it off."

"It's no problem, Kirishima-san." Izuku said, just as they had finished lifting the fridge onto Kaito's truck. "My quirk is _Wind Control_. I can control the wind and air around me. But if I use it too much, I start to a little lightheaded."

"That's pretty cool." Mina replied, her face taking on what could only be described as a thinking expression. "It sounds pretty versatile as well. Doesn't seem like it would have many drawbacks either."

"Uh, t-thank you." Izuku replied to the pretty pink girl, not used to people complimenting his quirk. Granted, he had gone his whole life without a quirk, so it had really never happened before.

"Wait!" Kirishima yelled, though Izuku for once didn't flinch at the volume. "Does that mean that you can fly?!"

Izuku laughed at the question, recalling the many mistakes he had made when he tried to do just that. "I wish, but it's a little too hard to control wind like that. But I do use _Wind Control _to enhance my running and jumping, and I've been learning parkour with it as well."

A few more questions were asked, and Izuku responded as best he could, and quickly enough the two hours went by. The three of them bade Kaito goodbye, and once Eijiro and Mina realized that this would be when Izuku would train his quirk, they insisted on staying even longer.

"So you're learning to fight? Why do you need to do that if you can just blow them away with your wind?"

Izuku looked towards Ashido, seeing her confused face. "Well, I don't have perfect control with it yet. When I get perfect control, I'll probably be able to do a lot more offensive attacks with only _Wind Control_, but until then I still need to be able to fight. It's also good to fall back on if there's someone who has a quirk that could counter mine."

Ashido nodded at what he said, thinking if she should perhaps learn how to properly fight as well. She had always just assumed that her quirk would get the job done, but Midoriya made some good points. If someone had a quirk to counter her acid, she would be left defenseless. Kirishima looked like he was having similar thoughts.

And suddenly, without hesitation, Ashido Mina looked up towards the freckled boy, her black and golden eyes looking more determined than ever before, "Can you teach me, Midori?"

"Yea, teach me too! I want to make sure I can be a great hero!"

Izuku stared at his two classmates, their fists clenched as they looked towards him. This truly was a day full of surprises. Before this, Izuku had barely talked to the two of them, and now they were asking him to teach and train them so that they could be heroes. Izuku couldn't help but think to himself that they were asking someone who was truly quirkless to train them. Did he even have the right to train and teach them, after only having had his quirk for three months?

Truthfully, Izuku felt like he didn't.

"I-I'm sorry, b-but I don't think that I s-should be teaching you. Honestly, I'm n-not strong or experienced enough. I s-still don't know h-how to fully use my own quirk."

Kirishima and Ashido looked very visibly upset by this, but Izuku wasn't done yet. He took a deep breath and a second to collect his thoughts.

"I can't teach you, because I'm having trouble teaching myself. B-But, if you two wanted to train with me, we can all learn together, and help each other out. It wouldn't really be me training you, but all of us working together."

There was silence for a bit, and for a moment Izuku wondered if what he had said wasn't good enough for them. Maybe they had realized that he was still just a nobody and they would just continue to go about their life without him.

"Awesome, I'll see you tomorrow then, Midori!"

"I can't wait, we're going to get so manly, Midoriya-kun!"

And then before Izuku could even process what had just happened, the two of them bade their goodbyes and began making their way home. Izuku, extremely confused, went back home as well to take a brief rest and finish whatever schoolwork he had. The only thing that convinced Izuku that the whole day hadn't been some sort of daydream or fluke was when Ashido and Kirishima ran up to him before classes started and began to enthusiastically talk about training that day.

And thus began the story of how these three would become the world's number one hero team.


	2. Bonus Chapter - What's Up Diary

Bonus Chapter

What's Up Diary

Mina

_Something strange has been going on with me for a while._

_It hasn't been anything bad, that I can tell, but I've been having these weird feelings lately. Like my stomach is upset, but not in a sick or painful way. And I find myself blushing and happy at things, sometimes at things that are just totally small and ridiculous. _

_And sometimes I have thoughts. Only for a second, but they're always super embarrassing. Stuff like hugging, holding hands, kissing, and other things, if you get what I'm saying, Dairy. It happens in dreams as well, and even worse is that sometimes I wish I didn't wake up from those dreams._

_It's all Midori's fault._

_I don't know how, but all of this is his fault. He's always the cause of it. He's the one that's in the thoughts and dreams, and it's always what he says that causes me to blush. I know he doesn't intend to, but why is it that when he says my name I get that feeling in my stomach? How come whenever he hugs me, I always find myself wishing for more than that? And why is he the only one that I'm having these feelings for?_

_Maybe it's love?_

_But we've only known each other for four months, surely it couldn't be that. _

… _Okay, so I'm having trouble convincing myself that. But isn't love strong word to describe that? If anything, this is just a crush. Crushes happen all the time, especially when you're going through puberty. So really, it's nothing to worry about._

… _Still, I don't like feeling like this. I mean, I love the feelings, but not the insecurities. I like to think that I'm pretty straightforward with how I feel. But when I think about telling Midori how I feel, I get all nervous. _

_What if he doesn't feel the same way. Or worse, what if he feels the same way about someone else? I mean, it's unlikely, especially considering that Midori doesn't really interact with any of the other students in the class, outside of giving them his notes when they need them._

_But Midori still draws a lot of attention, even if he doesn't think he does. He's certainly attractive, in a really cute way, and he's crazy nice to everyone. He has a certain feel to him, something that lets you know that you should pay attention. It's what drew Eijiro and I to talk to him back then, and others can feel it to. What if one of them were to get similar feelings for Midori?_

… _I'm totally overthinking this, aren't I?_

_I mean, I just barely turned fifteen, I don't need to be thinking so hard on a crush. I should be more like Midori and focus hard on my studies and training. I'm never going to become a pro hero if all I do is sit around daydreaming about Midori. _

_We'll talk about this later, Diary, but right now I need to do something to distract me from Midori. Goodnight._

**Just something I did for fun in between posting chapters. Not particularly relevant to the story, and you can decide whether or not it should be canon for this story. Hope you enjoyed.**


	3. Chapter 2 - Eijiro's Brilliant Idea

Hero Team: Rainbow Storm

Chapter 2: Eijiro's Brilliant Idea

"All right, that should be enough for today. You're getting really great Midori, keep it up and you'll be better than me in no time!"

Midoriya Izuku wiped his face free with sweat with one of his small towels, completely and utterly exhausted by the workout. Over the past three months, Mina had been giving Izuku private breakdancing lessons. As soon as Izuku had learned that his pink friend was something of an expert in the art, he had asked if she would teach him. Izuku had insisted that it was just another workout, and that he was doing it to build flexibility, agility, and to incorporate those skills into his fighting, but it was pretty clear to Mina that after the first couple lessons, he was hooked.

"I d-don't really think so, Mina. I mean, i-it's only e-easier for me because I cheat a-and use my quirk for some of the harder moves." Izuku's face grew a red blush at the praise he received from Mina. Despite the two of them being friends for four months now, Izuku was still the least socially competent of their little group.

"Yea, and I sometimes use my acid when I dance as well, so we're both cheaters." Mina laughed at her own joke, prompting the shy boy to laugh as well. Her laughter was always infectious, and more than not brought a blush to his face.

Izuku had become much closer with Eijiro and Mina over those four months, something that Izuku initially worried would be difficult considering that they had known each other closely for a couple years before he transferred to their school. His fear had been almost completely eradicated over the four months, especially because of how they reacted when they had learned that he had only had his quirk for a couple months. They had run into one of Izuku's old classmate a little over a month after they had started hanging out, and when he had referred to him repeatedly as quirkless Deku, Izuku had no choice but to explain, though he kept out the part where the man had given it to him in his hospital room.

Despite his fears that they would reject him, or call him a fake for making them think he had been born with his quirk like everyone else, they had responded to the news well. Extremely well, in fact. Kirishima couldn't help but exclaim how manly it was that Izuku kept up his dream to be a hero even when he was quirkless, and Ashido had excitedly stated that if he had become as awesome as he had in only a couple of months without a quirk, that she needed to work harder to catch up. Not the reactions that Izuku thought they would have, but they were much better than the alternatives. That had also been when the two of them had practically forced Izuku to refer to them by their given names.

"Izuku, are you and Mina-san done with your lesson? I've made you both some snacks, you two must be exhausted by now."

"Thanks Mom!" Izuku said as he started stretching out his limbs, all too familiar with the aches that accompanied intense workouts like this. Mina was eagerly downing the water from her leopard water bottle, taking a glance at Izuku as she did so, a habit she had recently picked up, though she wasn't sure why.

Well, maybe she could, but acknowledging it was an entirely separate thing.

The snack was a plate full of delicious tuna onigiri, something that the two teenagers were immensely grateful for. Midoriya Inko had to run some errands soon after the two of them sat down, leaving Izuku and Mina to talk by themselves. And of course, with the upcoming exams right around the corner, conversation naturally drifted towards that.

"Midori, do you really think the three of us can get into U.A? I mean, I know that we're all training our asses off, but nobody even knows what the practical exam is."

If she were being completely honest with herself, Mina was terrified that she wouldn't be good enough to get into U.A. Even if she were to pass the written exam, which was something she knew was unlikely, the uncertainty of the practical exam was something that had her staying up late at night thinking about.

She knew Izuku could get in. Out of the three of them, it was no question that Izuku was the smartest one. And Mina had learned early on that his intelligence wasn't just limited to what they studied in school, but hero trivia, rescue tactics, proper usage of quirks, potential combat scenarios. Anything there was to know about how to best be a hero, Izuku knew like the back of his hand. He would be able to get in no problem. Frankly, she was surprised that he hadn't already gotten in on recommendation. Her on the other hand…

"To be honest, I've been wondering the same thing myself." Izuku replied to Mina, with a small, nervous laugh. "Now that we're getting so close to the exams, I keep wondering if I'm good enough. I mean, there are going to be people taking the exams that are smarter than me, and have been able to train with their quirk for their entire lives. When I think about it like that, the chances of someone like me getting in are pretty low."

That was not at all what Ashido Mina wanted to hear, and hearing Izuku of all people say something like that only made her feel down. Izuku was the most qualified person that Mina knew. If he was having doubts, then the chances of her getting in might as well be non-existent.

"But," Izuku continued, surprising Mina that he had more to say, "You and Eijiro have really powerful quirks, and if it's a combat oriented exam like most of the heroics course exams have been, then I'm willing to bet a whole lot on you two getting in. Although, if the exam would let us be in groups, that would be even better."

A simple statement at the end of the day. All that was really said was that Izuku believed she and Kirishima could get in. It was something she had heard before, and it was something she was sure she would hear again. But that was perhaps that strange thing. She had heard Eijiro say that as well, with a lot more enthusiasm and certainty, but she didn't feel the way she did now when he had said it. She didn't feel nearly as happy, as elated, as lighthearted when Kirishima was the one saying those things. But when Izuku said them, when he said something as simple as "I believe in you,"...

Mina forced herself out of those kinds of thoughts, not exactly sure what they meant, but feeling that now was not the time to think so in depth about them. "You say that like you're not going to be the one to get the highest score out of us, Midori." Mina said to the green eyed boy, causing a small blush to appear on his freckled cheeks. "If you don't get the top score on the practical exam, I know I'll be surprised."

"T-Thank you, Mina" Izuku said quietly to the pink girl, unable to meet her own black and gold eyes with his own. They continued talking, and before long Mina had to return home to finish up the homework they'd been assigned for the weekend. And it was when Mina had finally left the apartment that Izuku had a thought he had been trying to avoid thinking.

'_Mina is really beautiful.'_

*****LINE BREAK*****

It was late at night for Izuku when he heard the strange ring come from his phone, indicating that he had received a message from someone, most likely Eijiro or Mina, perhaps even both. This wasn't the first time they had messaged him at such a time, so it didn't surprise him at all, but with the math exam they had coming up he had hoped that they would be studying or sleeping. Evidently, his less academic friends did not think the same way he did.

Pausing his evening push-ups and picking up his phone and turning the screen on, Izuku saw that it was a message from Eijiro. Fully unlocking his phone, Izuku quickly navigated to the messaging app that he had.

_Eijiro: Izuku, are you free tomorrow?_

A simple question, and something that Izuku was easily able to answer considering that tomorrow was a saturday.

_Izuku: Absolutely, is there something in particular that you have planned?_

_Eijiro: Yea, I thought of something awesome, but I need your opinion on it, and it would be easier to explain in person. Meet up at my house tomorrow for lunch, around 2pm?_

Now Izuku was confused. What exactly was it that Eijiro wanted to discuss that was too complicated to call or text about? Was Mina going to be there as well, or was it something that only the two of them would be discussing? If it was just the two of them, was it something that they were keeping secret from her? All these thoughts passed through his head at an unrivaled speed as his crafted his response.

_Izuku: I'll be there, see you tomorrow._

_Eijiro: See ya._

The night passed quickly after that, and soon enough Izuku was heading out the door and making his was to Eijiro's house. The entire time he was thinking about what needed to be discussed. Eijiro wasn't one that usually needed to talk seriously, or explain things in an efficient matter, so all the effort that Eijiro was going through for this was just a little worrying.

After about a twenty minute walk, Izuku was standing on the doorstep of his friends house, having just rung the bell. And when the door opened, it was to a person he almost didn't recognize.

"E-Eijiro, is that you?" 

Eijiro smiled at Izuku, taking his hair in his fingers and giving it a quick twirl in between them. Twirling his _red _hair in between them.

"You bet it's me! I guess you noticed my manly new hair. Red is a much more badass color than black! And if I'm going to be a great hero like the Crimson Riot, then I have to look the part as well. Half of being a hero is image after all."

Izuku gave a small chuckle at his friends words, having heard the new redhead say similar things in the past before. "Is that what you invited me over for, Eijiro, or was there something else that you needed?"

Eijiro widened his eyes at that. "Oh yeah, I almost forgot! Come in, come in. You're going to love this, it's gonna change our lives."

Izuku walked into the house, already familiar with layout, having been here a couple of times before. Eijiro led the freckled boy over to the living room where there was a large plate absolutely filled with mini sandwiches, no doubt made by the boys wonderful mother. But more surprising was the massive amount of papers scattered around, some with what looked to be notes, and others with drawing that looked comically childish.

"Woah, Eijiro, what exactly is going on here? And why does none of this look like studying material for our math test on Monday?"

"I can get to studying later." Eijiro said, completely brushing off the question. "But I had a thought yesterday, and I think it's amazing, but I wanted to talk to you about it first. I mean, you're kind of like the smart one of our group, and it would affect you and Mina."

"Um, okay Eijiro. What exactly is the idea?"

It was at this moment that Eijiro Kirishima decided that it would be best for him to take a dramatic pause. The two of them sat on the floor by the table for almost thirty seconds before Eijiro sucked in a breath and opened his eyes.

"Hero Team: Rainbow Storm!"

Another couple of seconds passed.

"Okay okay, let me elaborate. You, me, and Ashido should all become a hero team! The Rainbow Storm! You know, because with your green hair and eyes, my red eyes and new hair, and with Mina's pink hair and skin, we would make the most colorful team ever! I've got it all figured out!"

Eijiro quickly grabbed a couple of the papers to his left and scooted closer to his friend, placing them in front of the green haired boy. "Look, if we all get into U.A, then we can all take the hero team courses that they offer. It would be a lot of extra work, but I really think it'd be worth it. And I heard that sometimes the people in the hero team courses even get to go on real patrols with other hero teams as extra credit, and they go on a hero team exclusive field trip.

"And I know what you're thinking, about how the popularity of hero teams has been declining over the years in favor of single heroes. But if you look at the statistics, hero teams have been shown to save more citizens and perform rescue operations more efficiently than single heroes that get paired with other single heroes. Plus, popularity wouldn't be a problem with us, because of how awesome we'll be."

Izuku looked down at all the papers that Eijiro had handed him, skimming over their contents as his mind turned over what his friend had just proposed to him. His brain was swimming in thoughts, only getting more as he looked over all his friends facts, silly drawings of coordinated costumes, alternative hero team names, and how all their quirks would be able to interact with each other, as well as potential combined super moves.

"So, uh, what do you think? I know it's not completely thought out yet, I mean, I only had this thought yesterday. But I think it would be awesome for the three of us to become a team." Eijiro had a nervous smile on his face as he said that, his normal excited demeanor all but gone by now.

"I think… this is a wonderful Idea, Eijiro." Izuku said back to the red head, causing said boy to release a breath he had unconsciously been holding. "I mean, I can't believe that I didn't think about this before. The contrast of our quirks would be difficult to get around at first, but we've been training for a bit and I think we could get past it. _And I think that with yours and Mina's quirks, we would be able to perform rescues pretty efficiently. Though it does look like these combination ultimate moves need work, but maybe we could do something with Mina's acid and your defense? I wonder how her acid would work on you when your quirk is active? Maybe we could use that to surprise potential villains"_

"Izuku, man, you're mumbling again."

Izuku's face turned red with embarrassment. "Oh, sorry a-about that. But uh, in summary, it is a great idea."

Eijiro gave a small chuckle at his friends mumbling habit, before blowing into full blown laughter of happiness. Izuku grew a bit redder, but he soon began laughing with Eijiro. Both had to reach for the glasses of water on the table in order to calm themselves down, both to stop the laughing and to cool themselves off.

"Thank you Izuku. I feel so much more confident about this idea now that you've agreed with me. Do you think Mina is gonna like the idea as well? It'd be kind of weird if the two of us came to her with this idea and she didn't want to be heroes with us."

*****LINE BREAK*****

"That is the greatest idea EVER! Oh my god, yes, Hero Team: Alien Queen and friends! Oh I can't wait to get into U.A now! Those courses are probably going to be a breeze for us! Great plan Eijiro, you hit a homerun with this!"

'_I guess that answers that question.' _thought Izuku and Eijiro as their pink friend leapt out of her seat and began jumping around the cafe. Izuku thought about getting Mina to calm down, but she looked so happy, so he decided to let her have her moment. Soon enough, after most of the cafe had looked at her strangely and she had chanted her future hero name an extensive amount, she finally sat back down in her seat, her dark yet bright eyes absolutely glowing.

"I'm really glad you're happy about Eijiro's idea, Mina." Izuku said to the pink girl, causing a faint purple blush to appear on Mina's face, which he didn't notice, and a knowing and sly look to appear on Eijiro's face as he looked at the two of them.

"Thanks Midori, but I think we should really be thanking Eijiro. I mean, this is a seriously great plan. I had already thought about us doing some hero work together, but being a team makes that soo much easier. Oh, we could even live together or something! Get a cool apartment, like a headquarters!"

Izuku laughed at that, though now he was the one blushing about sharing an apartment with Mina. Eijiro only laughed, growing increasingly happy at how his two friends were making each other feel. They may not notice it themselves yet, but with the right pushes, he would make sure that they got together in good time.

*****LINE BREAK*****

"Come oooon Ashido-chan, it's just one afternoon. You never hang out with us anymore, you can take a day off."

"Eeehh, I don't know." Mina replied to Suzuki, a fellow classmate and friend, nervously rubbing the back of her head as she did so. "The exams are only three months away, and I have to work extra hard for U.A. I need all the training and studying I can get."

Izuku and Eijiro looked from their desks towards their pink friend, awkwardly watching as Ashido Mina once again turned down an offer to go to the mall with her friends, after having done so for what must have seemed like the millionth time. After Eijiro and Mina started training with Izuku, it seemed, at least to the rest of the class and their friends, that the two of them had basically dropped off the radar. Of course, most of them knew that they were spending their time with Midoriya, but there were just a couple of them that couldn't understand why they'd rather spend their time with the hero nerd than with them.

"Mina, you know you could go hang out with your friends after school if you want. It's not like missing one afternoon is going to set back all of our hard work." Izuku tried to tell Mina while the three of them were sitting at lunch, causing an embarrassed expression to appear on on the girls face.

"I know I could, but it just feels different going out with them now. I mean, I still love all the same stuff they do, but it just feels like they have different priorities. Besides, if we're serious about becoming a hero team, we need to start working twice as hard as we were before."

"How do you mean?" Eijiro asked, looking up from his protein filled bento. "It's not like we can train more than we already are. If we do that, we're going to overexert ourselves. And none of us can afford any extra classes right now."

"Maybe we don't need to up our training, Eijiro." Izuku replied to the thoughtful redhead. "We could spend a couple of our weekends studying for the hero team classes at U.A. I looked into it a bit more over the weekend, and it turns out that there's an extra test that we need to pass in order to join. I went over the mock exam and it wasn't too difficult, so that shouldn't be a problem, but there is always the practical exam. If we set aside some time on the weekends and study over some hero team rescue techniques and battle strategies, and try to adapt them for our quirks, I think we should be able to get into the course no problem."

"That sounds good, what days should we do those?" Eijiro asked the two of them, receiving an answer from Mina this time.

"Sundays, if we do it on Saturdays then it'll cut into Midori's and my breakdancing time. And we wouldn't want Midori to lose out on that part of his _training._" she said with a wink towards the green eyed boy.

"I-It is training! It increases my f-flexibility a-and agilty, and I've been using the b-breakdancing moves to help with my f-fighting style!" Izuku defended, his cheeks growing as pink as Mina's were naturally.

"Oh come one Izuku!" Eijiro laughed, slapping his friend on the back as he did so. "Just admit that you actually enjoy breakdancing. It's not bad to have a hobby you know. Especially one so cool."

_And it's especially not bad to have a hobby that allows you and Mina to have some alone time._

"A-Anyways," Izuku started, quickly trying to change the subject away from himself. "I can get you two a couple of hero team mock exams to practice with, and I'll try to look into what exactly we'll need to study and add to our training. With luck, in three months, we'll not only be successfully be enrolled in U.A, but we'll also be in the hero team courses."

"Don't be such a downer." Eijiro said to Izuku. "We aren't going to need any luck. Trust me, we're getting into both of them. Hero Team: Rainbow Storm is going to kick ass!"

*****LINE BREAK*****

And so the Rainbow Storm upped their training and studying to include hero team studying and exercises. And for almost three months, Izuku, Mina, and Eijiro trained harder than ever before, spending almost every waking moment focused on their new dream. There were spars, mock rescues, obstacle courses, and quirk training sessions crammed into those three months, along with their regular community service project, until finally, one week before the U.A entrance exam, Dagobah Beach was finally cleared.

The three teens sat on the sands of the beach, each of them breathing heavily as they gazed at the sun setting upon the ocean, smiles plastered on all of their faces. Watanabe-san had already congratulated the three of them on their success and made his way home, eager to bring his wife the amazing news that their favorite spot in the world was finally cleared. And as they looked towards the ocean, towards their future, Izuku had to hold back tears.

Ten months ago, Izuku had been in a situation where life had no meaning. The words of his peers and his idol had driven him to jump off of a building, all in the hope that he'd be able to escape his cruel reality. He'd been scarred for life by many years of belittling, and ten months later he still bore a number of those scars under his clothes from his fall, each one reminding him how close he had come to meeting his goal.

And now, Izuku was doing better than ever before. He had a quirk, though how he had obtained it was still something he prefered to ignore, and more importantly, he had two friends that truly believed in him and valued him, so much so that they wanted to be in a team with him. And hopefully, in two weeks time, he'd be receiving a letter of acceptance at U.A.

Okay, now he was crying, but it should be justified! Right?

"Midori, are you okay?" Mina asked, her voice filled with worry as she looked at her crying friend. She had known Izuku for long enough to know that he tended to cry whenever he felt strong emotions, especially happiness, but each time she still grew just but nervous whenever he did start crying.

"Yea, I'm fine." he replied, quickly trying to wipe away the tears that were falling from his eyes. "I'm just… really happy that I'm friends with you guys. I don't know where I would be right now without you two."

Mina and Eijiro both smiled at their friend, understanding that the time before Izuku started attending their school was one of immense difficulty for him. Neither of them knew the full details, but he had told them during one of their other emotional training sessions that it was his attempted suicide that had caused him to transfer. So for him to be crying right now, expressing to them how glad he was to have them in his life, made them feel an enormous happiness within themselves.

"I think that we should be thanking you, Izuku." Eijiro said to the shorter boy, causing the latter to turn to him in confusion. "Well I mean, without you, I don't think I'd have ever become so invested in training and studying. I'm absolutely certain that we can get into U.A now, and it's because of you and your drive."

"Seriously Izuku," Mina started, surprising the boys with the use of Izuku's given name as opposed to her nickname for him, "you're the best friend either of us could ask for. And it's because of you that we're able to be where we are now."

If Eijiro and Mina were trying to make Izuku stop crying, it wasn't working, and now there were streams coming down his face as he looked towards his best, and only two friends. He kept trying to wipe away the tears that were falling, but nothing he could do would stop them from appearing. He shut his eyes tightly as he held back a sob, reaching for the bottle of water next to him in order to quench the immense thirst he suddenly felt.

'_What did I ever do to deserve them.'_

*****LINE BREAK*****

As Sorahiko gazed upon the trio as they spared on the now beautiful beach, the only word he could use to explain how he felt would be proud. Proud of how far those three had come in less than even a year, proud of the drive that each of them possessed, and proud of the level of maturity that the three of them were showing as they moved towards their dream. Sorahiko could say for certain that there weren't many others that he felt deserved to be admitted into U.A as much as those three.

Of course, he was also worried for the three of them, particularly Midoriya Izuku. Despite his warning ten months ago, Yagi Toshinori had contacted him about two months ago, telling him that he had accepted a position as a teacher at U.A. While the man didn't say it, Sorahiko knew that All Might had accepted the position in the hopes of finding a successor. And while that disgrace was allowed to do whatever he wanted, the thought of him being in the same vicinity of Midoriya was not one that the old man enjoyed.

But there were more pressing matters to think about. Even after ten months of observing Midoriya Izuku, and ten months of investigation, Sorahiko was nowhere closer to discovering whatever it was that All For One wanted with the young boy. He couldn't figure out what the villains plan were, and hadn't even been able to get a solid lead on where the villain might be hiding.

There were, however, two things that Gran Torino knew for certain. First, and most importantly at the moment, was that there was a successor to All For One. Sorahiko hadn't yet been able to see the boy in person yet, but he knew without a doubt that Shigaraki Tomura had been receiving personal instructions from the villain himself, one of them being to start looking for suitable members of a villain league. So far no villains of note seemed to express interest, at least not according to any of Sorahiko's sources, but this was not something that he could take his eyes off.

Secondly, though this one was not one that could be connected to All For One's plans, and wasn't in any way bad at all, was that the villain hadn't given Midoriya a quirk. He had given Midoriya _two _quirks.

Well, that was a misleading way for Sorahiko to think about it. What most likely happened was that All For One had stolen two quirks, experimented with them and combined them to make them one, and then had given that quirk to Midoriya. And so far, Midoriya had only been using one aspect of that quirk. Sorahiko couldn't say what that second aspect of his quirk was, but he had been in this game long enough to know when someone hadn't even begun to tap the full potential of their power. After all, he had helped train two seperate users of _One For All_.

It was of little consequence though, and if the three hero hopefuls got into U.A like he believed they would, then the school would surely do a fantastic job in teaching Midoriya not only how to unlock that aspect of his power, but also how to train it properly. U.A wasn't the top hero school in the country, and arguably the world, for nothing.

The three teens would be just fine. All they had to do is stay together and they would be able to demolish any obstacles in front of them. And Sorahiko had a very good feeling that that wouldn't even be close to a problem for them.

*****LINE BREAK*****

It was finally here.

_He _was finally here.

His dream was within his reach, and the first step was literal steps away. U.A stood in front of him, the sun casting a heavenly glow on it, the cool air of a dying winter gently blowing through everyone's hair. He closed his eyes as he stood there, feeling at peace rather than a jittering mess of nerves like he thought he would.

Ten months of training brought Midoriya Izuku here. Ten months of constant stress, self induced pain, passing out, carefully calculated diets, research and studying, all of it led to where he stood now, and the tests he was about to take. But none of those things, nothing Izuku could have done, would have made Izuku guess that if he ever got here, he'd be standing at the entrance to U.A with friends.

With Ashido Mina standing to his right and Kirishima Eijiro standing his left, Midoriya Izuku felt the strongest he had ever felt in his entire life. Nothing could stand in their way, not when the three of them were together. Team Rainbow Storm was unstoppable, and nothing short of a worldwide apocalypse would slow them down, and certainly not some stupid entrance exam.

The U.A entrance exam was about to begin, and Team Rainbow Storm was coming in like… well, a storm.


	4. Chapter 3 - Entrance Exam

Hero Team: Rainbow Storm

Chapter 3: Entrance Exam

As All Might looked down at the sheets of all the students taking the entrance exams, his eyes stayed glued to just one name on them. A name that belonged to someone he had caused an enormous amount of pain. A name that caused a self loathing within himself that no amount of super strength could get rid of. Midoriya Izuku. The boy whose life he had utterly destroyed, and now, as far as he could tell, another chess piece in the ongoing match against All For One.

The past ten months had been some of the worst in his life, if not the worst. Everytime he went out in his muscle form, saving civilian after civilian and defeating countless amounts of villains, it all felt as if he didn't deserve any of it. He didn't deserve the praise, the fame, the admiration, the compensation. Nothing he could possibly do could make him deserve anything when he had convinced a _child_ to jump off the very same roof he stood upon.

A part of All Might, the despicable, _selfish _part of himself, wished that Midoriya Izuku didn't pass the exams. It wished that the young boy hadn't been training in the last ten months and that he would fail. That way, Yagi Toshinori would never have to confront him, and he'd hopefully be able to forget about his sin in favor of finding a suitable candidate to inherit _One For All._

But to wish failure on Midoriya was a disgusting thing, and so he pushed those vile thoughts away, instead hoping that the boy would be able to fulfill his dream. A dream that he himself, the supposed symbol of peace, had crushed less than a year ago.

*****LINE BREAK*****

Midoriya Izuku didn't know what to feel when he walked into the exam room. The obvious first thought was that the room was huge, with a great many participants in it. If Izuku had to guess, he would say that there was close to a thousand just in this one room, and since there were four exam rooms… well, the math wasn't difficult to calculate.

The second thought was more of an onslaught of emotions than it was an actual coherent thought, and that came from the sight of Bakugo Katsuki sitting somewhere near the middle of the room. It seemed that even after all the time that Izuku hadn't seen Bakugo, he was still able to easily spot him anywhere. The spiky ash hair and the slouched yet angry posture left no doubt in Izuku's mind that it was him.

In the moment that the short wind user saw the explosive teenager, he felt… not nervous, which in itself was strange. There were so many feelings flying around inside of him that it was hard to pinpoint exactly what he felt, but the best word that came to his mind was driven. Driven to prove to Bakugo that he deserved to be here, that he belonged in U.A, and most of all, driven to prove the same things to himself.

Bakugo possessed a level of skill that Izuku knew many others their age did not. He had an amazing and versatile quirk, and he had a natural talent for athletics and the more physical aspects of being a hero. He had a drive that was almost unmatched by any other, and years of training to fine tune both his quirk and his athletic abilities had made him in an ideal candidate for the countries top hero school.

No, Izuku had no doubt that Bakugo would be accepted into U.A. He would probably be one of the top contenders for the number one spot on the practical exam. That wasn't what Izuku was worried about in the slightest. What worried Izuku, what kept him up at night even today was that even if he could contend with Bakugo, even if he could show all the judges that he was good enough to get into U.A, would it truly be a victory? Did he deserve to stand alongside everyone here, deserve to stand alongside Bakugo, alongside _Mina and Eijiro, _with a quirk that didn't even belong to him.

Electing to push those thoughts away, Izuku made his way to his seat, just a couple rows down from Bakogo. Mina and Kirishima both had to go to different exam rooms, so the green boy was all by himself while he did this. If his two friends had been with him when he entered, he was sure that they would have noticed something odd with him, and knowing them, asked about it. And he in turn, not wanting to lie to them any more than absolutely necessary, would probably have told the two of them that it was Bakugo who had been one of the causes of immense pain in his life.

And after that, the most likely thing to happen would have been them trying to beat the life out of the ashy haired boy. So maybe, in a way, it was a good thing that the two of them weren't in the same exam room as him. Still, it might have been nice to have their support right before the exams were about to start.

The written exams were handed out by some unknown administrators, and after just a couple minutes, the exam began. There was nothing interesting about it, and after the three hours it took to complete it, Midoriya Izuku could say with confidence that he had passed. Written exams were never difficult for him, and when it came to the hero section of the test, Izuku didn't think he had ever gotten through a test section as fast as he did that one.

After the written exam, the students were allowed a one hour break that the administrators suggested they use to eat a small snack. This was not only to allow the students some rest before the practical, but to allow the staff to prepare everything and perform last checks for the practical exam

"I can't believe that it's finally done!" Mina exclaimed as the three of them sat in one of the hallways not too far from their exam rooms. "It's done, and now we can finally relax! No more last minute study sessions, no more using our lunches to review chemistry formulas, and no more stupid libraries! From now until U.A starts, it's all training!"

Izuku had to give her at least a small laugh in return. He'd be lying if he said that he enjoyed all of the studying they had been doing in preparation for this exam. And if nothing else, Mina's excitement and enthusiasm was contagious.

"You're damn right it is! Nothing but fun from here on out! Hey, we should go to arcade to celebrate! We haven't had the chance to go out and just have some fun in a while. Let's do it, no training!" Eijiro said.

"W-Well, that's a good idea and all, but shouldn't we wait until we're certain that we've passed the exams before we celebrate. I mean, I'm pretty confident that we'll have passed the written exams, but the practical exam is still the one that everyone is always worried about."

"Izuku, relax." Eijiro said back to him. "We're going to do just fine. I'll bet that not a single other person here is as well prepared for the practical exam as we are. And if we get put into the same exam, then just imagine how easy it'll be. Trust me, Team Rainbow Storm is going to kick everyone's ass!"

"But Eijiro, they try not to pair students from the same school into the same exams. It's pretty unlikely that we'll be in the same exam."

They would be put into the same exam, but it wasn't coincidence, and it wasn't a mistake.

*****LINE BREAK*****

"Welcome everybody to my live show! Everybody say HEY!"

Nobody said hey.

"Tough crowd! Whatever! I'm gonna give you the rundown on how this exam is going to play out! ARE YOU READY!"

If anybody was ready, they didn't express it. In fact, the only person making any sort of noise was Izuku, who was busy mumbling and fanboying to himself over the fact that it _Present Mic _that was giving them the instructions on their practical exam! Izuku would be hard pressed to find something that would make this day any better. This was causing some concern from those who were seated nearby him though, as many of them were wondering if the mumbling was voluntary or not, and just how quickly could he speak!?

"Now pay attention, we're going to be seeing if you've got the skills to pass a ten minute practice run at one of our replica city-districts! You're allowed to use whatever equipment you want, just gather at your designated location after my amazing presentation, ya dig!?

"Now, there's going to be loads of faux-villains spread out all over the replica cities, and each of these is going to be either a One, Two, or Three Pointer! It's up to you to use your quirks to take out as many of them as you can and reach a high score! Also, you're not allowed to attack other competitors directly! That's gross anti-hero stuff and it'll get you an automatic fail, ya feel!?"

Izuku could feel himself nodding as he continued to mumble the rules to himself and what they could possibly mean, when there was suddenly a disturbance from above him.

"Excuse me!"

From only three rows above him stood a tall and muscular boy with short blue hair and narrow glasses, a very stern expression on his face as he looked towards Present Mic. "On the handout that we received, there are very clearly four types of villains listed! If this is an error, then it should be a huge embarrassment for a top-tier school such as U.A!

"And you!" the boy continued, this time looking directly at Izuku as he said that. "Stop mumbling to yourself! We're trying to pay attention! If you think U.A is just fun and games, then leave at once and spare the rest of us!"

If Izuku could have one wish right now, it would be for him to suddenly fall into a whole in the floor and never rise up from it. The embarrassment that he felt from being called out on his annoying habit made him want to run out of the room and never return to the school ever again. Had he really been mumbling to himself at a time like this!?

"You make a good point there kid, so let me explain!" Present Mic said, his sentence directed towards the boy who had yelled at Izuku. "The fourth type of villain is a Zero Pointer! It's a bigger villain that goes crazy and is much harder to defeat than the other villains! If I were you, I would do my best to avoid that guy! Now, everybody make your way to the test sites and GET READY!"

*****LINE BREAK*****

'_Holy crap, this place is enormous!'_

As Izuku stood by the gates of the replica city-district, he really had no choice other than to be in complete awe of the sheer size of it. One had to wonder how the school even had enough space for these replicas, but Izuku chose not to question it too much. Instead, his mind was swirling with thoughts and ideas on how he should take on these robot foes.

If Izuku used his _Wind Control _on the right areas of the robots, that should be enough to be able to knock them over, and hopefully that would cause them to break. If not, he had been working on a more offensive move with his wind, one where he made it move narrow and fast, so that he could try and cut things. He could use that to cut areas of the robots to destroy them. And if neither of those worked, Izuku just might be able to push his wind to lift them up and drop them. All good ideas in theory, but Izuku wasn't sure if he'd be able to use the last idea effectively, and he wasn't sure how useful trying to cut metal with wind would be.

Izuku was dressed in dark green track pants that clashed horribly with his red high tops, though Izuku was unaware of that, and a simple black t-shirt for his top. It was cold, with it still being mid February and all, but Izuku hardly noticed the cold in his excitement. Others around him were dressed similarly, though most wore track jackets as well, and many of them had clothing that was presumably adapted for their quirks. For example, the stern boy from early had pants that only went down to his knees, showing off some engine exhausts in the back of his legs.

"Izuku!" he heard from a bit from behind him, and as the green haired boy turned around he could see Eijiro running towards him, dressed in an all black tracksuit, with a couple of white lines here and there. It wasn't really difficult to see his friend considering that he had decided that the perfect way to make his debut into U.A was to start spiking his red hair. It had come as quite the shock to the other members of Rainbow Storm when he had showed them only three days ago, but Izuku had to give Eijiro credit. It certainly made him easy to spot.

"Eijiro, are you in this exam as well?" Izuku asked the boy when he caught up with him, causing the red head to smirk.

"No, I skipped out on my exam to come here."

"W-W-WHAT!? Eijiro, you need to go back to you exam right now, they're gonna kick you out if they find that out!"

"Relax, dumbass, I'm just messing with you. Of course this is my exam."

Izuku couldn't help but feel embarrassed at the laugh that he received from his friend, but it only took a second for him to begin laughing with him as well.

"You had me worried there for a second. We haven't trained for so long just for you to flunk out by sneaking out to see me."

"Maybe that's exactly what I trained for, Izuku. I spent seven months of my life working my ass off just to get here and purposely fail. My evil plan has finally come to pass!" Eijiro exclaimed, putting on his best villain voice as he did so. Izuku couldn't help but laugh even harder. That was, until he felt a firm hand grasp his shoulder.

"Can you two not see that the people around you are trying to focus on the upcoming task. I already told you, if you're here for a laugh, then you should just leave now."

Both Izuku and Eijiro turned to see the same boy that had told that to Izuku during the exam instructions, though Eijiro want aware of that.

"Hey man, what's the deal? We're just having a bit of a laugh before it starts, no big deal. It's not like you're the one in charge around here." Eijiro said back to the boy

"I may not be in charge, But I am concerned for everyone else's wellbeing. We have all been working hard to get to where we are, and so nobody should have to put up with anything they shouldn't want to."

"If you ask me," a voice started from behind the stern boy. "You're the one who's making a bigger distraction for everyone around you."

The three boys all turned to look to the newcomer to see Ashido Mina herself standing behind the one that was busy telling off Izuku and Eijiro. She was dressed in a light blue tracksuit, complimenting her pink skin and hair beautifully. Her arms were crossed, and she looked just a little annoyed at the boy making her friend's life difficult.

The boy looked around the four of them to see many people looking at them, noting that the girl was correct, there were more people looking at them then before. He gave a wince at that, but the stern expression never left his face.

"Yea, maybe before you go preaching about distracting others, you make sure to not make it worse."

Mina's final words seemed to put the mystery boy in his place, and he walked away without another word, though he did look severely put out.

"Hell yea, way to put a dude in his place, Mina! That guy was totally unmanly."

"T-Thanks for helping out, Mina."

Mina just gave her two friends a trademark Ashido smirk before she walked up to the two of them, giving both Izuku and Eijiro a playful punch on the shoulder.

"Well, you know, can't have anyone mouthing off Team Rainbow Storm. We made it this far, and I'm not gonna let anyone tell us that we should leave now."

Mina's words got both of the boys to smile a bit before Eijiro decided to bring up some concerns.

"So guys, elephant in the room and all, but how the hell are we supposed to pass this? I mean, it's not like we can pair up and have team points, this is a test marked individually. I know we're all strong and whatnot, but if we can't help each other, then what do we do?"

The three sat in silence for a second before Izuku, having the brain that he does, thought of something.

"Maybe we get marked individually, but there's no rules saying that you can't help other contestants. The only rule about interacting with other contestants is that you can't attack them directly. The way that rule is phrased is probably meant to mean that if you wanted, you could even indirectly prohibit other contestants from being able to participate.

"A good plan would be for us to stick close to each other, take care of the One and Two Pointers by ourselves, and then team up for the Three Pointers, alternating who gets to deal the finishing blow for it. But that means that we'll also need to get deeper into the city at the start. The villains closer to the entrance are going to get cleaned out quicker, and we need as many as we can get if we're all going to have enough points to pass."

Eijiro and Mina thought the plan over, their faces showing that they understood what Izuku was saying, before they looked up towards each other and nodded. And right as Mina was about to say something..

"START!"

Everyone turned to Present Mic, who stood smiling on a tower above all of the students. Noticing their confused faces, Present Mic continued. "What are you waiting for!? There ain't a countdown in a real battle, get moving you lackies!"

All of a sudden, it seemed that everyone around the three of them was moving, causing them to stumble for a bit before they found their footing and started running themselves.

'_This isn't any good!' _Izuku thought to himself as he noticed that they weren't getting anywhere with all these people around them. _'We need to get further in now!' _

Izuku thought of an idea, but he knew that it was one that neither of his two friends would be incredibly fond of. Out of nowhere, he grabbed Eijiro's left hand and Mina's right.

"Hang on you guys!"

And that was the only warning that the two of them got before Izuku used _Wind Control _to speed him up and he desperately dragged Mina and Eijiro further into the city. They screamed as they flew almost comically, but Izuku kept a hold of them until he spotted a Three Pointer just a street in front of him.

"Mina, use your acid to melt the villains foot! And Eijiro, if that doesn't destroy it, punch the hell out out it's head!"

Izuku let the two of them go, and though disoriented, they got the job done.

'_Alright, Kirishima has three points, and it hasn't been one minute yet. Not ideal, but it's probably not the worst! But we need to keep moving.'_

It was as he was thinking that that Izuku noticed a large shadow, and turned around to see a Two Pointer towering over him. His reflexes kicking in, Izuku used his wind to jump up to the head of the villain, and with a swing of his arm and all of his concentration, focused his _Wind Control _into the narrow slash he had been working on. It took a second, but as Izuku was gracefully falling towards the ground, he saw the head of the robot slide off it's body, along with the rest of it.

'_Great, my wind slash is able to cut right through them! That's two points! They must have made these robots using some weaker material, maybe a combination of'_

"Midori!" Mina shouted towards him, breaking him out of his thoughts. "We have to keep moving!"

And move they did. With fewer contestants in the area with them than there would have been at the start, the three of them were able to take the majority of the villains that they came across. A quick slash of sharpened air, some acid to the legs, or some hardened punches to the legs and head, and by the time four minutes had passed they had around 70 points between the three of them. Twenty five for both Eijiro and Mina, and twenty for Izuku.

"SIX MINUTES LEFT!" The three of them heard over the speakers, causing the three of them to focus more on the task, knowing that although it seemed like plenty of time, they had no idea what the scores of the other participants were. A few seconds after the announcement and they came across another Three Pointer.

"Izuku, you take this one!" Eijiro said, already having rammed into it, causing the villain to lose balance. With a quick breath, Izuku jumped up and slashed his arms twice at the robot, causing two deep cuts in its neck. A second later and the machine turned off, defeated.

"Thanks Eijiro!" Izuku shouted, before quickly taking care of another two Two Pointers in the same fashion, noting that his two friends were doing the same, both taking out One Pointers. That brought the total to twenty seven points for Izuku, and twenty six for his friends.

The three of them kept going into the city, getting a couple more points between them all, before the noticed something.

"We've been going the wrong way!"

Apparently, instead of heading further towards that back of the city like they planned, they must have gotten turned around and ended up nearer to the entrance, at least relatively. The main clue for this was how many more people there were in this area of the city, and the rapidly decreasing number of villains.

"THREE MINUTES REMAINING! EVERYBODY SAY YEAH!"

"We need to turn around, we're not going to get nearly as many points here!" Mina suggested, worry clear on her face. But as they looked around them and saw that the other participants were starting to get the same idea, it became very clear that they didn't have the time. They needed to use these last minutes to scrounge up whatever points they could.

They saw a two pointer, but just as Mina was about to throw her acid on it, the same boy from earlier came running in out of nowhere, going faster than when Izuku had dragged them deep into the city. With a swift jump and kick towards it's head, he destroyed it, claiming the points for himself.

"That's forty eight!"

Hearing someone else's points only caused more anxiety for Izuku, and as he, Mina, and Eijiro started desperately trying to scrounge up as many points as they could with what little time they had, he only started to feel worse about himself.

"ONE MINUTE AND THIRTY SECONDS!"

"Everybody run!"

When Izuku heard that, he turned towards where the sound came from, and felt the need to kick himself. Before them stood the Zero Pointer, and by god it was huge. Huge enough to dwarf everything around it, being at least twice as tall as the buildings around it. Really, Izuku had to wonder just how he missed it in the first place. But… what was that just by it's foot?

"Izuku, we need to get going now!" Eijiro said next to Izuku, just looking at the frozen boy, before he turned his gaze to where Izuku himself was looking. His eyes widened as he did so, as did Mina's when she saw it to.

There was a girl trapped in rubble, about to get crushed by the robots foot.

"Eijiro, you get to her as fast as you can and protect her! Use your hardening ability to hold up the foot before it crushes her! Mina, I'm going to you to the villains mid section! Use the strongest acid you have and try to melt it from there! I'll go up to the head of the robot and try to use my wind to get rid of it's head!" Izuku yelled, only waiting for the red head to nod before he picked Mina up bridal style and used his wind to rush towards the villain.

Eijiro ran as fast as he could towards the robot, getting right where he needed to be just in time to activate his quirk and brace himself as the foot came down on him. He was able to hold the robot up just fine, though it was no easy task. Above him, Izuku had just dropped Mina off as close to the robots mid section as he could, before proceeding to jump up to the head. Mina prepared the most corrosive acid she could manage, feeling the stinging in her hands begin to get immensely painful before she threw it onto the villain, watching the effects for a second before preparing another batch.

While Eijiro and Mina were busy performing the tasks that Izuku had assigned them, Izuku was busy performing his own, desperately slashing his wind again and again at the head of the Zero Pointer in an effort to deactivate it. He was getting there, but he knew that Eijiro wouldn't be able to hold the villain up for much longer, and Mina's acid, however corrosive it was, could only affect a little area at one time. He needed to destroy this machine faster.

"Izuku!" he heard Eijiro scream from the ground. "I can't hold it anymore! If you've got a backup plan, now would be the perfect time to use it!"

Izuku panicked for a couple seconds, before steeling himself and jumping just a bit aways from the head of the robot. Using _Wind Control, _he was able to make himself hover, though it was unsteady and Izuku knew that he wouldn't be able to hold it for much longer.

Eijiro had done his job of keeping the villain from crushing the mystery girl. All Izuku could hope for was that Mina's acid had done a good job of weakening the structure of the villain, and to hope that his own, borrowed power was enough to finish it off. And if Izuku could trust anyone to get the job done, it was Mina. And so, taking a deep breath while he hovered high in the air, Izuku mustered all the strength he could, drawing back both of his arms, and muttered a silent prayer to whatever god existed or might at some point exist.

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"

And released all of the power he had at the faux-villain, completely tearing the top half off the body thanks to the acid that Mina had applied to the middle of it. The top half of the machine hit the ground with a loud crash, but the lower half stayed put, and Izuku knew why. Using his wind to lower himself to where he had left Mina, Izuku landed gracefully next to her. Without warning, he picked her up again and jumped down.

"Eijiro, Mina is safe!"

Once Eijiro heard that, he used the remainder of his strength to push the bottom half of the machine off of himself. It took more effort than the boy even thought he had, but he was able to do it, and the villain fell behind him along with its other half, deactivated. And as Izuku placed Mina on the ground, both sporting blushes at the position they found themselves in, he couldn't help but smile. Hero Team Rainbow Storm had just saved their first person, and the two of them didn't even realize it.

"AAAAAND TIME IS UP!

And just like that, all three of them realized what position, and kicked themselves for forgetting about it. Once they had saw the brown haired girl in trouble, they had all forgotten about the points that they were supposed to be collecting.

"Holy hell, did you see that?"

"Those three took down the Zero Pointer like it was nothing,"

"Did they come together, or were they just a random group?"

"Man, if I had their quirks, this whole exam would have been way easier."

As everyone around them was looking towards the trio, many voicing their thoughts on how Izuku, Mina, and Eijiro did against the monstrous machine, Tenya Iida was thinking many of the same thoughts, though those did not take priority,

'_They're all missing the point. Those three jumped in to save that girl even though there was nothing in it for them. If this hadn't been an exam… would any of us had done the same thing? And could that have been part of the exam?'_

And as we watched the three of them help the girl up from the rubble, he was sure it was.

'_I see! And if the test is really designed like that, then that means that these three…'_

*****LINE BREAK*****

"Izuku, cheer up. It's already been a week. You don't need to worry. I'm sure we passed just fine, and the letter will come soon enough."

The fact that Mina had used his actual name rather than the nickname that she seemed to love should have made Izuku feel happy, put his mind at ease. Mina only used his name when she was being serious, and she could always be trusted when she was serious. But for some reason, her using his name only made him feel as if she was trying to comfort him, protect him from the blow of failing the one shot he had to get into U.A.

"I know, but we still don't have any idea of what the other students got. That boy already had forty eight by the time the Zero Pointer showed up, and that was all by himself. Some of others probably got a lot higher than that."

Eijiro nodded beside his friend. "True, but our points aren't anything to laugh at either. I mean, you had what, thirty nine points at the end of it all? I had thirty six, and didn't you have something like thirty eight?" the boy got a nod. "I bet we're fine. And if we're not fine, we can always take the Shinketsu High exam next week, or try for the Gen Ed course at U.A."

Izuku knew that his friends were right, that the three of them were probably fine. But a part of him didn't want it to be fine. That part of him, a huge part of him, had wanted to take the exam by storm, him and his friends getting the top scores in the school. Not just to show everyone that they deserved to be there, but to also prove to himself that his doubts didn't have a base.

To prove to himself that he deserved to stand alongside everyone else, even though he was quirkless.

"You know what would cheer everyone up?" Mina said mischievously, gathering the attention of the two boys easily. "Going to Midori's house and having a killer dinner!"

Izuku faltered at that.

"You only say that because you love Inko-sans cooking. Seriously, why don't you just tell your mom she's bad at cooking, or try to cook yourself?"

"You don't think I've tried!? No matter what I say, she refuses to stop cooking! Says it's her job as a housewife. If she's going to take the housewife role so seriously, I just wish that she was as good at cooking as Inko-san."

"We all wish that, but that doesn't mean that we should take advantage of her that way!"

Izuku couldn't help. He simply had to laugh at the respect that those two help for his mother, as well as her cooking. Respect she truly deserved.

'_They're right, there's nothing to worry about. Even if we didn't get into U.A, there's still plenty of options for us.'_

"I'm sure my mom would love to cook something for us."

"Hell yea!"

*****LINE BREAK*****

The letter came while the four of them were having dinner.

Midoriya Inko was always so happy to have Mina and Eijiro over, and the two of them were always happy to be there as well. In some way, to Izuku at least, them being over always made it seem like the big, full family that he had never had. He loved his mother with all his heart, but with his father being out of the picture for as long as he could remember, and having no siblings of his own, Izuku always felt like there might be something missing whenever he sat at the dinner table. But with Mina and Eijiro over, they were always able to fill that hole.

So why did the letter have to come when they were all having a great time?

"Are you sure you want to open it now? I mean, Eijiro and I can leave if you want. Check out our own letters when we get home."

Team Rainbow Storm had decided to move to Izuku's room once he had received the letter. Ever since Izuku had lost faith in All Might, something he had still neglected to tell his friends about, his room had changed drastically. Gone were all the posters of pro heroes, the All Might covers on his bed, the numerous action figures. Instead, drawings and notes detailing the basics of his quirk littered the walls of his room, as well as the desk. Poorly done drawings had been made about potential hero suits. And on his floor were sets of weights that had been steadily increasing in weight over the course of ten months.

"No, I want you guys here. I mean, we all got similar scores, so it'll probably the same news for all of us."

The two friends nodded, and with a deep breath, Izuku opened the letter.

"_I AM HERE AS A PROJECTION!"_

"AAAH!"

The three hopeful students screamed in shock as the loud voice came suddenly from a metal disk that had fallen onto Izuku's desk.

"I-Is that All Might?" Mina asked?

"Does that mean that he's going to be teaching at U.A?" Eijiro added.

Izuku, despite his personal feelings about All Might, didn't have time to completely process the information, too focused on whether or not he was accepted.

"_Yes, as you can probably guess, I have accepted a teaching position for the hero course at U.A, so I look forward to seeing you in my class!"_

"Yep, that confirms it!"

"_Now, Midoriya Izuku, you passed the written exam with flying colors, and you received thirty nine villain points in the practical exam. Now, this is just enough points to allow you entrance into the school, but I have some even more exciting news for you!"_

"Hell yea, I told you that we would get in no problem! U.A here we come!"

"Quite down Eijiro, we need to hear the other news!"

Izuku sat silently. He had been allowed in. All Might said just barely, but he was in. Finally, his dreams were coming true. All his work had paid off, and now he was on his way to U.A, the best school in the country.

"_The school has been informed that you, along with Ashido Mina and Kirishima Eijiro, plan on taking the hero team test and courses that we provide. However, because you are only first years, and first years never take the courses, U.A elected that a secret test was needed for you three to prove to us that you are capable of taking the courses. This is why all three of you were placed in the same practical exam._

"_We were pleased to find that you and your friends performed remarkably, not only working together brilliantly as a team during that exam, something which hardly anyone ever thinks about, but also when you three were faced with another secret part of the test. You see, villain points weren't the only points that you could get from this exam. This exam also take rescue points, and when you three jumped in to save that girl you each earned the highest amount of rescue points the exam could offer, sixty!_

"_And so, not only did you earn the privilege to enter the hero team courses, you, Ashido Mina, and Kirishima Eijiro have also earned a phenomenal score in the practical exam. Observe!"_

And as the All Might projection extended his left arm, a list showing all the participants and their overall scores appeared. And right at the top, taking up the first three slots, were their names. Midoriya Izuku: 99 Points. Ashido Mina: 98 Points. Kirishima Eijiro: 96 Points. And right below their redheaded friend, a name that only Izuku recognised. Bakugo Katsuki: 77 Points.

"H-Holy shit…"

"_Yes, you and your friends earned the top three spots of the exam by a landslide! Welcome, Midoriya Izuku, to U.A!"_

And as suddenly as the projection turned on, it turned off, leaving the three friends speechless. Sure, Mina and Eijiro had expected them to get in, but none of them had thought for even a second that they might have gotten the highest scores in the exam.

"Holy shit."


End file.
